BBC presenter scandal: an expert explains the law around exchanging sexually explicit images

• What is known, however, is UK law when it comes to the exchange of sexually explicit material involving young people.
• According to allegations by the young person’s mother published in The Sun, the presenter paid tens of thousands of pounds in exchange for explicit images.
• The young person has claimed through their lawyer that “nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place”.
• If the images were exchanged after the young person turned 18, it could be that no law was broken.
• This law makes it an offence to take, show, make, distribute or advertise indecent photographs or “pseudo-photographs” of a child.

An abuse of power?

• Any abuse of power or trust could be an aggravating factor which, for sentencing purposes, could increase the maximum sentence to four years’ imprisonment for the making offence.
• A judge may also take into account the vulnerability of the child depicted, the number of images made or possessed and whether the child appeared to be intoxicated or drunk.
• Since 2017, it extends to situations where images are streamed (such as via the internet) or otherwise transmitted by some other technological means.